While I realize there are people who have made careers doing everything from their home studio I still feel like getting out and interacting with real people is the quickest way to get your music in the hands of actual listeners. That was the best success I ever had. Even though I wasn't really making dance music at the time, the most head way I ever got as far as a real, quantifiable fan base was by going out and chatting people up at the local monthly. I probably could have played for it as well, I usually came early/stayed late to setup.

I don't know if handing out business cards with a link or CDRs with detailed info about online presence are a viable platform anymore, but I tried both. Being all online is rough, there is a lot of average music out there that is totally listenable. Especially in the dance music game.

It seems to me that all the most succesful people I know of this forum got involved with "the industry" in person in some way. Strictly online seems like a bit of a circle jerk to me, but I'm kind of a Luddite. I think a good way to do things is to join online communities and build as close to a IRL relationship as you can with people. About half the music I listen to is from online friends.

I've also totally bailed on any attempt to do much but share my music with a few friends in the last 3-4 years so maybe I'm just talking out of my ass.